Required Online Training for all SFU Employees -

Bullying and Harassment

All employers in British Columbia have a duty to ensure the health and safety of their workers. In BC Occupational Health and Safety legislation is in place to prevent and address workplace bullying and harassment. According to the legislation, bullying and harassment includes:

any inappropriate conduct or comment by a person towards a worker that the person knew or reasonably ought to have known would cause that worker to be humiliated or intimidated; but excludes any reasonable action taken by an employer or supervisor relating to the management and direction of workers or the place of employment.

To ensure all staff are aware of the program and their responsibilities, SFU has a Workplace Bullying and Harassment Program that can be found online at www.sfu.ca/srs/ehs/bh.html. The program includes several components and is supported by the following policy statement:

Simon Fraser University is committed to providing a working and learning environment that is free from bullying and harassment and in which all members of the University community are treated in a fair and respectful manner.

The SFU program was developed by Safety & Risk Services staff following consultation with WorkSafe BC. A draft of the program was vetted through the Central University Health and Safety Committee and all local safety committees. In addition, the draft program was circulated to all employee groups for comment. The program was then modified to address the feedback received. It includes online forms and procedures for investigating complaints. Supervisors and/or Department Heads are expected to investigate all complaints of bullying and harassment in their workplace.

In addition to the online training we will hold optional skills based training for supervisors. That training will be announced very shortly.

For the purposes of this program, employees include anyone working for SFU in an official capacity. This includes employees in temporary positions funded by outside sources whose pay is provided by the university. WorkSafe BC defines supervisors as any employee “who instructs, directs, and controls workers in the performance of their duties”. This relationship is often, but not always, reflected in a job description.